Chapter 07
A bandit member from the western city, Jefran.
He was running while gasping for breath like a madman.
Jefran was a city that collapsed because the transition of leadership generations failed.
In Jefran, food was worth its weight in gold.
Corpses were always scattered across the streets, and people willingly harmed others just to steal food.
Even in such chaos, the vassals who ruled Jefran sent enormous funds to the royal family.
Thanks to that, the royal family did not interfere with Jefran’s situation at all.
In the end, Jefran became a living hell.
The bandit group left Jefran.
The bandit was once a servant who worked for a baron’s household in Jefran.
Taking advantage of the moment when the vassals were too busy fighting among themselves, he stole valuables and fled.
To the north lay a barren but livable city—Raoren.
He planned to sell the stolen goods there and start a new life.
Of course, along the way, banditry for survival was unavoidable.
He had killed people and indulged his desires—but it couldn’t be helped!
“Damn it, damn it!”
There was only one reason he was running.
The bandit group that had been seven strong when they arrived—he was now the only one left.
Why had this happened?
Because of a barefoot man who appeared out of nowhere.
Eyes glowing red in the darkness.
His natural eye color seemed amber, but in the dark, they shone with an eerie crimson light.
Anyone touched by his hand died instantly, unable to do anything.
As if he were the grim reaper himself.
Everything he touched met death.
If someone had their head cut off or their heart pierced, that would at least make sense.
You could just think, “The opponent is strong.”
But this bizarre sight—people dying the moment they were touched—evoked an indescribable terror.
In the end, the bandits scattered and fled.
It was a desperate struggle to survive, even if only a few could make it.
After running for a long time, the bandit reached an abandoned building.
It had once been inhabited, but was left empty as monster appearances increased.
He slipped into the stone structure and quietly held his breath.
His heart pounded violently.
Hold it in. Calm down!
He desperately tried to steady himself.
Step—
Then, he heard footsteps.
His body froze instantly.
The sound of footsteps grew closer through the darkness.
The bandit gripped his sword as tightly as he could.
If the figure appeared, he intended to swing it at least once.
As he waited, barely breathing—
The footsteps suddenly began to move away.
Hearing that, relief finally escaped his lips.
It’s gone.
He survived.
He slid down against the wall and sat on the ground.
He didn’t know whether the others who came with him were alive or dead.
There had been no time to worry about them.
At dawn, he would sneak into Raoren, sell the valuables, and start a new life.
He would never commit banditry again.
Just as he made that resolution—
One of the bricks in the stone wall suddenly slid forward.
An arm shot out from the gap and grabbed his shoulder tightly.
Thud—
The sound of the brick hitting the floor echoed clearly.
Meanwhile, the bandit’s face turned deathly pale.
Slowly, he raised his head.
Beyond the wall, the reaper’s eyes flickered red.
That was the last light he saw in his life.
After dealing with the last bandit, I stepped inside.
The bandit had died leaning against the wall.
His face was twisted in terror.
It was the face of someone who feared the approaching death more than anything.
“If you feared your own death, you should have known others fear it too.”
What would change by saying that to the dead?
In the end, I also took lives because they were evil.
At this point, I might not be any different from them.
I picked up the corpse.
Then gathered the bodies of the bandits I had killed earlier as well.
After placing them together, I dug into the ground.
As someone who regularly disposed of monster corpses as a cleaner, this kind of work made me something of an expert.
After digging graves large enough for a person, I laid them down one by one.
Searching their belongings, I found name tags on a few of them.
They were probably issued in Jefran.
I took a wooden board I had noticed earlier and carved their names into it with a dagger.
I also found some valuables among their belongings.
One of them—a golden badge engraved with wing patterns—looked quite expensive.
“Stolen, I guess.”
Judging by their appearance, it couldn’t possibly belong to them.
I didn’t know if I could return it to its owner, but there was no reason to bury something that wasn’t theirs.
I casually put it into my bag.
After covering the graves, I planted the wooden boards with their names engraved.
It was the final courtesy I could offer to those whose lives I had taken.
Even if it was hypocrisy, I still wanted to do it.
After taking one last look at the graves, I turned away.
Picking up my bag of monster remains, I calmly headed back.
At dawn, the monster-hunting guild came into view.
When I opened the door, I saw hunters passed out from drinking late into the night.
There were also young rookies just forming their monster-hunting teams.
And finally, a group that looked ready to depart somewhere.
“Oh.”
One of them let out a short exclamation upon seeing me.
His name was Egoi.
A mid-level monster hunter who had spoken to me the previous day.
“So you weren’t lying after all.”
He said this after looking at my appearance.
I was covered head to toe in dirt.
Naturally so—I had buried ten people overnight.
I passed him and placed my bag on the counter.
Meryl must have gone home, as the night clerk, freckled Jini, was there instead.
Inside the bag were proof of killing three mid-level monsters.
The hunters who had been watching me froze, their eyes widening.
Even the drunk ones blinked as they slowly grasped the situation.
“Reptilon… Gaora… and… Iglips.”
Jini muttered the names of the three monsters.
“Y-you defeated them all?”
Her voice trembled in disbelief.
The other hunters stood there, mouths agape.
Three mid-level monsters.
In a single day.
And all by myself.
From their reactions, I could tell.
From today onward, no one would ever call me weak again.
Instead, my name would spread as a mid-level monster hunter.
“Haha.”
Egoi laughed.
When our eyes met, he waved his hand.
“We’re leaving for the capital today.”
So it was true.
The capital had a high occurrence rate of dimensional shifts.
Because more people meant more dimensional activity.
That meant not only large monsters but also ones that couldn’t even be classified by size appeared there.
Because of that, many hunters made their names in the capital.
The same went for mages.
More monsters meant more mana stones.
Naturally, many mages gathered there.
The capital had become the front line against monsters—
And also a land of opportunity for hunters.
“See you there soon.”
With that, Egoi left with his group.
Another mid-level hunter, once a pride of the Raoren branch, had departed.
Like me, he would likely be much stronger the next time we met.
For some reason, that thought stirred something inside me.
Being acknowledged by someone strong.
Today, I understood that feeling for the first time.
That afternoon.
I didn’t visit the guild.
Bringing in one mid-level monster might be luck.
But bringing in three at once definitely wasn’t.
By now, the hunters were probably talking about me all day.
I didn’t want to become gossip.
“I’ve enjoyed enough pride for now.”
The place I headed to today was the training center.
After absorbing three monsters, my physical abilities had increased significantly.
I had even faced seven bandits without being overwhelmed.
Though they were weakened from hunger, the difference in size should have mattered.
But right now, I was fighting purely on instinct.
Relying on dynamic vision and reflexes.
That wouldn’t sustain me forever.
Even the strongest spear is useless if it can’t hit its target.
A powerful weapon only shows its true strength in the hands of a skilled warrior.
That’s why I came to the training center.
In the past, I couldn’t even complete proper training.
I still remembered the day I was thrown out after just one day.
The instructor had told me that if I continued being a hunter, I would die soon.
If I had recklessly persisted back then, I would have already died.
I opened the door.
Inside, rookies were in the middle of training.
Monster hunting was good for money and fame.
So many still pursued it.
Even though in reality, it was no different from a circus facing death.
“Hey, over there.”
“Isn’t that him?”
“That’s Haren—the hunter who took down a mid-level monster alone.”
Some of them recognized me.
My name had spread that much in just a few days?
Well, I had already been infamous as a mana-stone thief.
And now more rumors were piling on.
No wonder my name spread.
Ignoring the rookies, I went further inside.
There, a staff member managing training registrations greeted me.
“I’d like to register for training.”
“Of course. Please write your name here and show your hunter ID.”
The staff didn’t seem to recognize me.
Well, the training center was separate from the guild.
Unless they were hunters themselves, they wouldn’t know.
Like five years ago, I wrote my name and handed over my ID.
The staff paused after seeing it.
Then slowly looked up.
“Y-your name is really Haren?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“The one who hunted a mid-level monster alone?”
Ah… so they do know.
My reputation was bigger than I thought.
“Why would someone like you come here?”
The staff looked completely confused.
Understandably so.
Why would a hunter capable of soloing mid-level monsters need training?
“I want proper guidance.”
I needed to learn how to fight monsters—not just rely on five years of cleaning corpses.
“I see.”
The staff nodded, as if understanding something.
“You want to learn directly from the training master!”
“…What?”
“He’s here to challenge the dojo!”
“A rookie mid-level hunter is here to take on the master!”
The surrounding hunters whispered excitedly.
No.
That’s not it at all.
“I’ll inform them right away!”
No, wait—
But the staff, smiling brightly, hurried inside.
All I could do was stand there in stunned silence.
That’s not why I came.
I just came to learn.
And somehow—
It turned into me challenging the entire place.
